In the case of Missouri v. Dockery in 1903, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a dispute involving state taxation and railroad property. The State of Missouri had imposed taxes on certain railroad properties owned by non-residents, including William Dockery. He challenged this tax arguing that it violated his constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause because similar properties owned by residents were not taxed at all or were taxed less heavily. The Supreme Court disagreed with Dockery’s argument and upheld Missouri's right to impose such taxes. It held that states have broad powers to levy taxes as they see fit unless there is clear violation of constitutionally protected rights which was not evident in this case according to them. This ruling affirmed states' authority over their own taxation policies and underscored that these policies would only be overturned if they clearly infringed upon constitutional protections.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Missouri v. Dockery argued that the state had no right to interfere with a private contract between two parties, even if one party was a corporation regulated by the state. The justice believed that while states have broad powers to regulate corporations for public welfare, they cannot infrally upon individual rights protected under the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause. This includes freedom to enter into contracts without undue interference from government authorities. In this particular case, it was held that Missouri's law mandating railroad companies provide free transportation for certain officials violated these principles because it constituted an unreasonable and arbitrary intrusion on contractual freedoms of both railroads and their customers who would bear increased costs indirectly through higher fares or reduced services as result of such mandates.